Stephen Elliott

[Beavis]

If Liam Lawrence is interested in playing for Ireland we should bring him in.Looked a good player when he came on at half time for Sunderland yesterday.Very skillful and good vision,had a big impact on the game.
I was a bit dissapionted with Elliot overall.Gave the ball away a lot and didn't really look comfortable in possesion but perhaps proving himself a good striker by scoring after a poor display.

[zinedineontour]

Thought the game opened up and we improved when liamo came on. Steo did well after he scored was quiet up to then due to the lack of service from the wings. But a sign of a good striker is scoring on those off days . great finish. Would like to see Liam Lawrence get a run in the sund side and hopefully then he could make a claim on the right for Ireland . He is one of the best crossers in championship

[Slash/ED]

Yes to both of the above.

The question is, is he good enough? I seriously have my doubts to be honest.

[eirebhoy]

Lets see if he can establish himself in the Sunderland team before calling him up.

Edit, Lawrence that is.

[eirebhoy]

Elliott scored 1 and set up the other against Derby today. Thats 12 goals this season. Keane scored 11 in his first season so it looks like he's gonna demolish that. :)

[eirebhoy]

Fair play to Elliott, he's proving Keegan wrong anyway. Great season he's having. Good to see young Yeates get a run for Spurs on Saturday too. Seems to be a great number of young lads waiting for their chance to shine. Good luck to them.
I don't think he's proven Keegan wrong. He rejected a contract offer from Keegan and Keegan has tied down a lot of players long term because of that.

[Closed Account 2]

Who would you say will be the 4-5 strikers Kerr will take to Germany (if we qualify) ?

Robbie Keane,
Clinton Morrison,
Stephen Elliott,
Alan Lee...?,
Macken...(I hope not)..?

(NB Im assuming McGeedy, Duff, the Doc etc would be classed as midfielders/defenders)

[eirebhoy]

I think he'd go with 4 strikers as McGeady and Duffer would be enough attacking cover.

Elliott
Morrison
Keane
and ???

[Eirambler]

I'd say Keane, Elliott, Morrison and Doherty as strikers (He'll probably have 4 center backs without The Doc). With McGeady and Duff as cover, that should be enough.

Of course he might pick Connolly...

[Eirambler]

Although I think we're getting a long way ahead of ourselves with this topic!

[Slash/ED]

God help us if he brings the doc as a striker, or brings him at all.

Keane Morrison and Elliot are obvious, probably Connolly or, with some luck, Yeates will be the next one.

[Stuttgart88]

Andy Reid can cover too, as he did quite well in Paris.

I think Elliott will be an important player in time. He does a lot of Robbie's running but he has Aldridge's eye for poachers' goals. Why on earth did Kerr think he could play wide in a 4-3-3 though?

Clinton is playing really well at the moment.

And (totally off-topic) I was delighted to see RMK dominate Gerrard. As usual the British media were well off in their predictions of his demise. I'm not a MUFC fan by the way.

[tetsujin1979]

I say the match report for Sunderland's game late last night on Sky Sports News, I'm pretty sure they referred to Elliott as a "Northern Ireland international striker", anyone else see this, or did they change it later on?

[Plastic Paddy]

Indeed I did T. The same commentator also referred to Dean Whitehead as "Whitehouse" at least once during the report as well. Diddy. :rolleyes:

:D PP

[Stuttgart88]

I think the other Stephen Elliott (doing well at Hull) is from Norn Iron. Bad mistake though. He'll know who he is when we beat England again in Stuttgart 2006!

[tetsujin1979]

I think the other Stephen Elliott (doing well at Hull) is from Norn Iron. Bad mistake though. He'll know who he is when we beat England again in Stuttgart 2006!

You're right there Stuttgart, but he's Stuart Elliott, he is from the 6 counties thuogh.

[Slash/ED]

And he's doing more than well, he's the leagues top scorer with over 20 goals despite being a left winger and not taking set peices! Some record, even if it is in the second division.

[drinkfeckarse]

Saw him in action a couple of times at Motherwell and was reasonably impressed. I was surprised when he moved to Hull as I thought he could do a job at a higher level, he always had an eye for goal.

[eirebhoy]

Of course he might pick Connolly...
Kerr doesn't seem to rate Connolly at all since the Swiss 03 game.

[barglee]

id go for Macken ahead of connolly although i dont think many here will agree!

or maybe Lee.....

need a target man

[Eirambler]

Kerr doesn't seem to rate Connolly at all since the Swiss 03 game.

Good!

[Slash/ED]

id go for Macken ahead of connolly although i dont think many here will agree!

or maybe Lee.....

need a target man

I really don't get why we see it as an absolute must to have a target man, we seem to have an obession with it. The only reason a target man should be in the squad is if he's one of our four best strikers not because we need to have someone excessively tall in the squad for the sake ot it.

[Kevin77]

I really don't get why we see it as an absolute must to have a target man, we seem to have an obession with it. The only reason a target man should be in the squad is if he's one of our four best strikers not because we need to have someone excessively tall in the squad for the sake ot it.

Agree 100%.

Antiquated view. I have the video of the qualifiers for 2002 World Cup and they interview this guy just before the Iran play off in Dublin and he basically says we need to score two or three, play a bit of the old “Charlton long ball” and get stuck in. It still makes me cringe when I see it. At the time, Iran were not a naïve fancy nation, they were a tall team of grafters with strong centre halves that would have just loved it if we’d humped the ball into the box. Fortunately we had done our homework and didn’t disrespect Iran this way.

We really don’t need a target man. Arsenal don’t play with one, nor do Man Utd and unless you count Drogba as a target man (he is top class in the air).

[eirebhoy]

nor do Man Utd and unless you count Drogba as a target man (he is top class in the air).
I must have missed that one. ;)

[barglee]

I really don't get why we see it as an absolute must to have a target man, we seem to have an obession with it. The only reason a target man should be in the squad is if he's one of our four best strikers not because we need to have someone excessively tall in the squad for the sake ot it.

Well for a world cup a team has a whole squad of players on the bench and it makes sense to have as many options as possible, especially when a team is playing countries from all over the world with much different styles etc...

i just dont think connolly would offer anything different to our other strikers Elliot Keane and Morrison, whereas havin a player who could hold up the ball and give us an extra aerial threat might be useful when were chasing a game for example...

remember Quinn V Spain '02 ..........

[eirebhoy]

Well for a world cup a team has a whole squad of players on the bench and it makes sense to have as many options as possible, especially when a team is playing countries from all over the world with much different styles etc...

i just dont think connolly would offer anything different to our other strikers Elliot Keane and Morrison, whereas havin a player who could hold up the ball and give us an extra aerial threat might be useful when were chasing a game for example...

remember Quinn V Spain '02 ..........
agreed.

[Slash/ED]

Well for a world cup a team has a whole squad of players on the bench and it makes sense to have as many options as possible, especially when a team is playing countries from all over the world with much different styles etc...

i just dont think connolly would offer anything different to our other strikers Elliot Keane and Morrison, whereas havin a player who could hold up the ball and give us an extra aerial threat might be useful when were chasing a game for example...

remember Quinn V Spain '02 ..........

The difference between Quinn in 02 and now is Quinn was good enough to be in the squad on merit. Alan Lee is not, why should we bring a sub par player to the world cup just because he's tall? What if we have a few injuries and have to start with him? Long ball is no longer our game and it doesn't suit the players we have I think the notion that we need someone tall in the squad is stupid. Alan Lee struggles to get a game for Cardiff and we're supposed to rely on him in the world cup just because he's bigger than our average striker? That's stupid, imo.

[barglee]

The difference between Quinn in 02 and now is Quinn was good enough to be in the squad on merit. Alan Lee is not, why should we bring a sub par player to the world cup just because he's tall?

i was thinking more along the lines of Jon Macken ahead of David Connolly.
i think Macken is a better goal scorer than Connolly (both have fairly good div 1 goal scoring record but neither have set the world alight)and Macken also offers something different.

[Slash/ED]

i was thinking more along the lines of Jon Macken ahead of David Connolly.
i think Macken is a better goal scorer than Connolly (both have fairly good div 1 goal scoring record but neither have set the world alight)and Macken also offers something different.

I don't think Macken should be near the team either, he isn't good enough. He's been embarassing for Man City when I've watched them, really looks out of his depth. To be fair to Connolly, and I'm not his biggest fan, he hasn't had a chance at the top level in club football yet bar the odd appearence in the Dutch top league. Also, his international record isn't that bad espically when you consider how many caps have been as a sub. I'd have him before Macken easily, though I'd rather we had a better option than either of them.

[eirebhoy]

Morrison, Elliott, Keane and even Duff, Reid and soon enough McGeady and Flood are all pacy forward players. Why do we need another one? Connolly may be as good, or even better, than Macken but we don't want a 7th pacy striker who I'd be 100% sure wouldn't make it off the bench. At least Macken would give us an option if all plans fall apart.

[Slash/ED]

What option? From what I've seen he's not even a good target man. Morrison, Elliot and Keane yes, the others would mean moving our team around which is not an idea mid tournament. I'd prefer it if we had Connolly, or hopefully someone better on the bench who could actually play at that level. If there's just two injuries or suspensions we'd be relying on starting Macken and he is just not good enough. He's not Niall Quinn and he wont do what Quinn did against Germany no matter how tall he is, picking players on the basis of what kind of player they are rather than if they're actually upto it or not is daft. I doubt the Brazil manager is thinking "We have Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano and Kaka, wait, hang on a minute, lets leave out Adriano cos he's similar to Ronaldo and bring up Gary Dohertys Brazilian cousin" and I don't see why we should have that mentality that we simply need a big man in the team, if he's good enough, fine, atm we've none good enough. Unless you count Morrison as a target man as he is under rated at holding up the ball.

[eirebhoy]

Slash/Ed, I think you'll admit that Connolly is no Adriano. :) If he was good enough he'd be in there but he hasn't proven to be any better than Macken and Macken offers us more considering our options. Anyway, I've just thought of a new topic to open, lets leave this one to Elliott. :)

[Kevin77]

I must have missed that one. ;)

Arggh! Might help if I finished my sentences! We all know Drogba plays for Dundee...

[dr_peepee]

What about that young fella Stokes. He could make a late burst for the squad if all the hype is to be believed. He's nearly Seventeen now and is turning heads in a big big way at Arsenal.

Could he be our answer to Owen '98 or Rooney '04?

That Go West song springs to mind..... "I'm the king of wishfull thinking" :)

[eirebhoy]

What about that young fella Stokes. He could make a late burst for the squad if all the hype is to be believed. He's nearly Seventeen now and is turning heads in a big big way at Arsenal.

Could he be our answer to Owen '98 or Rooney '04?

That Go West song springs to mind..... "I'm the king of wishfull thinking" :)
Still not 17 til June but certainly won't get his chance at Arsenal just yet, he has only broke the reserves this season and hasn't made a Carling cup squad yet. Wenger paid £250k for Lupoli so he and Aliadiere would be ahead in the pecking order.

[eirebhoy]

Tuff Paddy - Connolly has a very good international record. Take away the matches he only came off the bench and the matches he was partnered with Keane (who just can't play with each other) and he has scored 9 in around 18.

[Condex]

Connolly is crap, full stop

[Stuttgart88]

High praise for Stephen Elliott from yesterday's Independent on Sunday. An abbreviated version of the same report appeared in today's The Independent (UK paper) under the title "Big Input from Diminutive Elliott".

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/story.jsp?story=603738

Let me know if you want the actual article pasted.

[eirebhoy]

Elliott

starts: 21 (1 fa cup)
sub: 10 (2 league cup)
goals: 12
assists: 7

[Stuttgart88]

Lads, sorry to be the one to burst the bubble here . . . but Connolly has been banging in goals in Div1 now for years and when it comes to international level he couldn't hit a cow's ar$e with a banjo . . . never mind score a WC penalty against Spain . . . so aren't we getting a bit carried away by Elliott?
I know it's early days, but there is a hell of a difference between scoring against clubs like Millwall, Rotherham and Preston and hitting the net against France and Switzerland.
Sorry for being honest. I hope I'm wrong here.

Maybe so, but the guy really looks to have an eye for goal. His performances in the U20 World Cup were fantastic, his finishing lethal. Man City fans who watched him in the reserves rave about him. I have a feeling that this guy will become the real deal in time. But you're right in a sense, there've been many players who were to be the next big thing but it never happened. I remember 10 years ago everyone said Alan McLaughlin was going to be a major star...

[eirebhoy]

another goal for Elliott tonight and what a stunner it was too. :)

[Plastic Paddy]

another goal for Elliott tonight and what a stunner it was too. :)

I've just seen it on Foxtel here in Australia. Fan-fecking-tastic. Good to see that he's not all tap-ins. :)

:D PP

[Slash/ED]

Chris Kamara, on sky, gave him MOTM though McCarthy oddly took him off with 20 minutes to go.

[tetsujin1979]

Chris Kamara, on sky, gave him MOTM though McCarthy oddly took him off with 20 minutes to go.

I wouldn't read too much into that, McCarthy's said on more than one occassion that he would have to rest Elliott as some point over the course of the season. Didn't he get dropped/rested for 2 games or so over December to prepare him for the Christmas games? Some goal too, be fantastic for him if he scores on Wednesday. As an aside, I pass through Royal Oak Estate on my way to work, where he's from. There's a few cars with Sunderland Elliott window-sticky things in there, loads of flags flying the day he made his debut too

[Stuttgart88]

I can't believe nobody has commented yet on Stephen Elliott's goal on Friday (or have I missed it?). He came on after 75 mins and made one great run from the touchline beating a few players before forcing the 'keeper into a decent save from outside the box.

Then in the last minute he scored a really good goal, taking it early with his left foot and placing it with power just inside the post. The work of a natural goalscorer. This lad gets all kinds of goal: tap ins, 20 yarders, headers, right foot, left foot, one-on-ones...

I saw the Sunderland vs Ipswich game recently and he scored with his first touch.

FIFA put him in as sub in their team of the World Youth Cup in 2003(?), their techincial sassessment being that he has a real talent in front of goal.

[eirebhoy]

I didn't see Elliott's goal but he seems to be the type that likes to come off the bench and grab a goal.

I seen the first half of the Wigan match on Saturday morning and the commentator said he doesn't think there's a better passer of the ball than Kavanagh outside the top flight. Kav took the free kick that the goal was headed in from and what a free kick it was. He has a superb technique, a bit like Ronan O'Gara stepping up for a conversion. :)

[Stuttgart88]

Look out forv Elliott's goal. It was real quality.

This is what The (UK) Times said about Kavanagh at the weekend:

“It is the type of pressure the lads will really enjoy,” Graham Kavanagh, the white-haired wizard of the Wigan midfield, said.

Kavanagh, whose superb reading of the game allows him to break up so many opposition moves and who dictates the tempo of the Wigan attacks, was first to admit that this was not a vintage performance. “We didn’t play, we had to scrap it out, but we have still got Premiership football in our grasp,” he said.

Kavanagh is one of three £1 million-plus players at a club bankrolled by Dave Whelan, no Roman Abramovich maybe, but with a personal fortune estimated at nearly £300 million quite capable of indulging his passion to Wigan’s benefit. But while Kavanagh is the heartbeat of the side and the other big-money signings, Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington, have 43 Coca-Cola Championship goals between them, this is a team based not on superstars, but on brilliant organisation and discipline, with a frisson of flair.

[paul_oshea]

yes i saw the goal, it was a great finish, though i think the keeper could have done better tbh. also the defender let him away to easily, though elliot should strenght and speed holding him off to be fair.


saw kav, he seemed to be getting involved with everything wigan were doing.

[eirebhoy]

Looks like Sunderland are signing Daryl Murphy. It is certain that they'll be signing 1 or 2 strikers for the premiership so its good news if they're Irish.

[Peadar]

Looks like Sunderland are signing Daryl Murphy.

They're paying €100,000 for him.
Many Premiership players could have paid that out of their weekly wages.
The eircom League gets raped again! :mad: